COELHEIROS VINHA DO TACO PETIT VERDOT 2012

Herdade dos Coelheiros planted Petit Verdot in Alentejo at a time when the variety was still considered an outsider in Portugal — a deliberate bet on a grape that rarely headlines anywhere. Vinha do Taco draws from the estate's clay-limestone soils in one of Alentejo's warmer sub-zones, where long growing seasons push Petit Verdot to full phenolic ripeness. The wine opens with concentrated cassis and dark chocolate, gains an earthy, mossy depth mid-palate, and closes with firm but well-integrated tannins and a long, black-fruit finish.